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Post by suzanne on Jan 20, 2006 8:45:07 GMT -7
As a complement to Gardenmoma's tasty soup recipes, I thought I'd share my favorite bread recipe since winter is such a perfect baking season and homemade soup needs homemade bread to go with it:
Makes 2 loaves:
2 tbsp. shortening 2 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tbsp sugar 1 cup hot milk 1 cup hot water 1 package dry yeast 1/4 cup warm water 6 cups white flour (or 2 cups white flour & 4 cups whole-wheat flour)
Mix first 3 ingredients, add milk and water, cool to lukewarm (to melt shortening and dissolve sugar/salt).
In a small bowl, mix yeast and 1/4 cup warm water to dissolve yeast, let stand 5 minutes. Then add yeast and 3 cups of the flour to the lukewarm milk/shortening mixture. Blend well, then add 2 more cups of flour. Turn dough out onto floured surface, knead for a minute then let rest 10 min. Add just enough flour so dough is not sticky, then knead until dough is elastic. Put dough in greased bowl, place in warm area, covered, until it has doubled in size. Punch down, divide in halves and place each half in a greased loaf pan, cover and let rise again. Heat oven to 400 and let bread bake at this temp. for 15 minutes. Then lower heat to 375 and bake another 25-30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool.
Fresh or dried finely chopped herbs and/or grated Cheddar or other sharp, hard cheese can be added to the dough before kneading, as a flavor variation.
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lily
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Posts: 45
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Post by lily on Jan 20, 2006 14:01:13 GMT -7
thanks suzanne.............lily here.................I appreciate the bread recipe................do you think it would work with a bread machine??
lily
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Post by suzanne on Jan 20, 2006 18:10:54 GMT -7
Hi Lily, I have never tried this in a bread machine, but I'm sure it would come out OK, as this is a pretty standard, simple bread recipe. Like all yeast breads, the more it is kneaded, the silkier and more elastic the texture is.
I assume recipes don't need to be modified for bread machine use. I'm not a big kitchen-equipment person, and I've never owned one!
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Post by gardenmoma on Jan 20, 2006 21:08:44 GMT -7
Lily, Check the capacity of your machine if you want to let the dough rise and bake in it. One option is to do everything in the bread machine including the first rise (-the dough cycle in some machines-) then remove the dough; punch it down; kneadi t into shape; place in greaded bread pans; let rise; and then bake per Suzanne's instructions. Good eating
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Post by gardenmoma on Jan 20, 2006 21:10:12 GMT -7
Suzanne, Many thanks for a great recipe GM
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lily
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Posts: 45
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Post by lily on Jan 22, 2006 18:16:31 GMT -7
hEY GUYS....
lily here...........will try the bread machine first - then gardenmamma suggestion of letting machine mix dough and go by hand from there
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lily
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Posts: 45
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Post by lily on Jan 25, 2006 17:56:30 GMT -7
OH SUZANNE................ LILY HERE
Oh baby - did your bread recipe come out wonderful - glorious - in the bread machine....
Wife and I have been thinking about fasting on Fridays..............this bread is perfect - the substance and body are really good................going to try the herbs ( I have a fresh herb garden which is blooming right now here in Florida) and maybe the Chedar Cheese.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS RECIPE............NO MORE STORE BOUGHT!!
Once I get my 32 bean supply - which is coming in - I can only image how good with this bread
God Bless
lily
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Post by suzanne on Jan 25, 2006 18:57:34 GMT -7
Lily, So glad you like it! The original of this recipe came from a Fannie Farmer cookbook but this version is one I got by tweaking the original, by slightly changing the amounts of liquid and shortening, and it came out more moist for me this way.
It is good with herbs, but make sure to use either fresh herbs or dried herbs that have not been stored a long time. Once I made it with dried herbs that were too old and they had lost their potency and I couldn't taste them at all.
I've never made the cheese version. If you do, let me know how it comes out!
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Post by gardenmoma on Jan 25, 2006 22:17:14 GMT -7
01/25 Suzanne, I tried your white bread recipe today and it made two 1.5lb very tasty loaves - although we only cut into one I did use my bread machine on the dough cycle and then finished the loaves off by hand and baked them in a "regular oven." Lily must have a whooping big bread machine if able to mix, proof and bake that recipe in it. I used King Arthur bread flour - gives an very nice loaf - and needed to add a little more warm water because of low winter humidity. Also, for something a little different I omitted the white sugar and shortening and added instead 5 tablespoons of granulated brown sugar, 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, one teaspoon of strong cinnamon powder, and 2 tablespoons of dark molasses. This gives us something called French Toast Bread! King Arthur Flour Co. use to sell a bread additive called "French Toast," but discontinued it. I liked it so much I wrote to the company and their baking rep. helped me to figure out the proportions. You can experiment for a stronger or milder flavor. The proportions I used are just about in between Very good point about the herbs, Suzanne...the various plant oils produce the aromas and flavors. When the herbs have sat around too long, especially in heat and light, the oils dissipate and all that is left are dried leaves ;D It seems to me, chopped chives would be very nice Thanks for sharing the recipes with us...it is nice to have a good basic recipe as easy as this one. GM
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lily
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Posts: 45
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Post by lily on Jan 26, 2006 7:30:23 GMT -7
Suzanne - Gardenmomma.........lily here.......
Husband has a terrific herb garden here in Florida - so we've got nice fresh herbs to put in the bread..................Gardenmomma thanks for the adaptation - will try.............this bread is going to be a favorite.....................my bread machine can make up to 2# loaf.............so it does a lot of things..............but I'm also going to try the dough mix - and into the oven that Gardenmomma did.........
Once I get that 32 bean soup mix - will be dunking the bread!!
God Bless
lily
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Post by suzanne on Jan 26, 2006 13:18:17 GMT -7
GM, I'm glad the loaf came out well for you, too! I like King Arthur Flour. Do they still put out that wonderful baker's catalogue?
The French Toast Bread sounds delicious. I bet that would make a good spread for toasted bread, too.
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Post by gardenmoma on Jan 26, 2006 13:44:14 GMT -7
Hi Ladies Lily, your bread machine has a larger capacity than mine I'd have a complete mess if I tried to finish off Suzanne's recipe in mine I take you and your husband travel between FL and Detroit, MI? You have the best of both worlds...so enjoy those herbs! If you ordered the alphabet soup, please be forewarned that it gets thick very quickly from the cooked pasta and split peas. We like thick soup, so here it is not a problem. We just finished a lunch of the alphabet soup made with a base of crushed tomatoes, and peanut butter on the French toast bread (I toasted my bread; husband did not) Yummy! Suzanne, yes, King Arthur still puts out the Bakers' Catalog www.kingarthurflour.com What is so neat about this company besides the quality of their products is that they are a co-operative They also sell the top-grade Polish pottery and show many of their demonstration baked goods in these pottery pieces. They are wise in their marketing decisions and have branched out into selling their flour and some mixes in supermarkets (the Big Y group around here; don't know about Stop 'n Shop). They've also gone big time into quality mixes (great for young busy professionals) and even bake (at their site in VT)and send a selection of their products to buyers. No, I'm not pushing them...not a member of the Co-op and there is no stock to buy - just think their products especially the flour is top quality and they are nice people with which to do business.
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Post by suzanne on Jan 27, 2006 8:01:03 GMT -7
GM, I don't do a lot of baking, so I'm kind of out of the "baking loop" but I'm glad to see King Arthur still has the catalogue, and a nice site online too. I like their products and they sell their mixes around here. I still have 15-20 year old versions of their catalogue that I've saved for the recipes they used to put in them. Back then, it seems like they were one of the few places that sold all natural stuff, whole wheat and other unusual flours. I didn't know they sold Polish pottery, though. They have some beautiful pieces.
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lily
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Posts: 45
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Post by lily on Jan 27, 2006 18:27:05 GMT -7
Gardenmomma - Suzanne - Lily here..............Friday night and 32 bean soup on the stove with a fresh loaf of Suzanne's bread in the Bread Machine................emmmmm will be so good in about another hour.
As far as the 32 bean soup - I added only the tomatoes - and the fresh ham hocks......husband has a little problem with the smoked - and the salt............
I wanted to taste the soup kind of "right out of the bag" - and then add the other suggestions later.
THANKS TO YOU BOTH FOR MAKING OUR LIFE HAPPIER - WE LOVE HOME MADE BREAD - AND CHICKEN AND BEAN SOUP PARTICULARLY.................
GOD BLESS LILY
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Post by gardenmoma on Jan 27, 2006 21:44:26 GMT -7
Hope dinner waswonderful and all you expected GM
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